This past Tuesday, we met together as a big volunteer group. We spent the day sharing our experiences and reflecting.

At the beginning, we shared our feelings and current work situations in our own projects. It was nice to learn more about the others’ projects.

Then we went to the Shelter Museum in Nowa Huta, where we learned more about the underground world during communist times. While we were really impressed by the hidden city system, it was also scary to learn more about the real functionality of the shelters in times of crisis. Our guide told us more about their low effectiveness in the event of nuclear attacks and the poor or even nonexistent shelter system nowadays.

At the end, we arrived at a room that confronted us with questions, giving us an impression of the real situation in society these days:

How would you feel if you went to a shelter knowing it might be the last time you saw your surroundings like that?
Would you feel safe in a shelter?

As a contrast to this depressing but also important and interesting topic, we took a short walk through the park near the lake. Then we took the tram to Wanda Hill. Afterwards, we walked through Nowa Huta back to our office. We ended our shared day by crafting pumpkins and talking about general rules of our volunteering regarding the days off.

We all enjoyed being back together in our small volunteer family and are looking forward to our next meeting in November.

Article by  Paula,

European Solidarity Corps volunteer

Tuesday meeting article from European Solidarity Corps from 24/10/2025